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Gunman Shoots 6 and Kills 1 in Fla.

The downtown Orlando building where a gunman shot six people, killing one, on Friday. The building was put on lockdown as the police searched for the gunman.Credit
Gregg Matthews for The New York Times

A former office worker opened fire in his old building in downtown Orlando on Friday morning, killing one person, injuring five others and setting off a frantic lockdown of nearby schools and buildings before the gunman, whom the police identified as Jason Rodriguez, was quietly arrested hours later at his mother’s home.

Law enforcement officials said Mr. Rodriguez, 40, an engineer who was fired two years ago by an architectural design firm, showed up around 11:45 a.m. Friday at his former workplace on the eighth floor of a building near Interstate 4, and began to shoot randomly. One person died at the scene; five others were taken to hospitals. The shooting came one day after a military psychiatrist was accused of gunning down 40 people on a military base in Texas.

In Orlando, for the few hours between the time that shots rang out and Mr. Rodriguez was arrested, panic ensued across the city, with workers at his former workplace, 1000 Legion Place, cowering behind barricaded office doors as the police descended in pursuit of the gunman.

Mark Vella, who works in a different office on the same floor, told The Associated Press that he and five co-workers pulled a filing cabinet in front of their office door and prayed.

“It was a little scary, a little unnerving,” Mr. Vella said. “We were afraid the guy was still in the building and making the rounds.”

Schools nearby were also locked down as police officials grimly warned the city that an armed and dangerous suspect moved among them. Shortly after 2 p.m., members of a SWAT team scouring the city for Mr. Rodriguez saw him through a window at his mother’s housing complex eight miles away, police officials said.

According to The Orlando Sentinel, Mr. Rodriguez did not resist arrest. He was met by reporters as he arrived at the police department for booking. According to The Sentinel’s account, one television reporter called out, “Why did you do it?” and Mr. Rodriguez replied, “Because they left me to rot.” Asked if he was angry at his employer, according to the paper’s Web site, Mr. Rodriguez replied, “No. I’m angry.”

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Credit
The New York Times

The police originally said that all the victims were employees of Mr. Rodriguez’s former firm, Reynolds, Smith & Hills, but Steve Olson, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation, said one of the agency’s employees was at the firm and was shot in the leg. “He is doing as well as one can do in this situation,” Mr. Olson said.

Mr. Rodriguez was fired in 2007 for poor performance after one year of work, said Michael Bernos, a spokesman for Reynolds, Smith & Hills. He did not have contact with anyone at the firm again, Mr. Bernos said.

“He had been given notice all year that his performance was substandard,” Mr. Bernos said. “When he was terminated, he was given his vacation and his benefits. I can’t explain his sentiment.”

As an entry-level engineer, Mr. Rodriguez would have worked on road and bridge projects on tasks like making sure the projects had appropriate environmental permits, Mr. Bernos said.

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Workers outside 1000 Legion Place. Credit
Geraldo Mora/Getty Images

Mr. Rodriguez filed for personal bankruptcy protection last May, owing, among other things, about $11,000 in child support for his 8-year-old son. In his filing, Mr. Rodriguez described himself as a “sandwich artist,” working at a Subway sandwich shop in the area. The man who answered the phone at the shop declined to answer questions.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Taylor, a retired Air Force officer, said Mr. Rodriguez had a “violent temper,” which he displayed in fights with his wife, and had great trouble keeping a job. In his spare time, Mr. Taylor said, Mr. Rodriguez was an avid duck hunter who often left his decoys around the house.

“He was O.K. unless he lost his temper,” Mr. Taylor said. “Then, you couldn’t talk to him. He’d just go off if he lost his temper.” Mr. Taylor added, “He would scream and yell at his wife any time that she said anything he didn’t like.”

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1000 Legion Place, the building that houses the former employer of Jason Rodriguez.Credit
Gregg Matthews for The New York Times

Mr. Rodriguez left the house before the couple divorced in 2006, Mr. Taylor recounted, when Ms. Holloway-Taylor “got tired of his freeloading.”

“She forced him out,” Mr. Taylor said. “He was a controlling-type individual,” Mr. Taylor said, adding about Ms. Stephenson, “She wasn’t allowed to do or say anything without his permission.”

Mr. Taylor said he was surprised but not totally shocked at the violent outburst attributed to the man he once lived with.

“I would call him a person who has trouble adjusting to authority,” Mr. Taylor said. “He does not like his word to be questioned.” He added: “I’m not totally surprised because we all felt like he might have, you know, a little problem between East and West — a mental problem. We just didn’t think he would be this irrational.”

Mr. Rodriguez’s son, Jason Jr., lives with his mother, Mr. Taylor said. He said she was unnerved during the hours Mr. Rodriguez was at large. “When everybody found that his dad had been found, everyone could relax.”

On Friday, Mayor Buddy Dyer praised the Orlando Police Department’s rapid response — within minutes of the first shot — calling it “a model of how to respond to an incident like this.”

Robbie Brown contributed reporting from Atlanta, and Sewell Chan from New York. Alain Delaquérière and Barbara Gray contributed research from New York.

A version of this article appears in print on November 7, 2009, on page A12 of the New York edition with the headline: Gunman Kills 1 And Wounds 5 At Florida Office. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe